4 years for stealing nearly $300,000 from Oak Brook firm

Aurora man used employer's 'accounts as his own personal piggy bank,' prosecutor says

August 22, 2013|By Clifford Ward, Special to the Tribune

(Tribune illustration)

An Aurora accountant accused of systematically embezzling almost $300,000 from his company to pay personal expenses and put a down payment on a house was sentenced Thursday to more than four years in prison.

"For four years, Shaun Horan treated (the company's) bank accounts as his own personal piggy bank," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.

Horan, 32, of Aurora, pleaded guilty in June to a single count of theft of more than $100,000, according to a news release.

Between 2007 and 2011, Horan wrote 96 checks to himself totaling $291,000 from an Oak Brook information technology consulting and staffing company where he worked, according to prosecutors and the news release. He then altered the company's records to cover up the thefts, prosecutors said,

Horan, who made about $41,000 a year, told authorities that the money was used to pay household expenses and bills. He used $20,000 to put a down payment on a house, but the house is now in foreclosure, and Horan is $200,000 in debt, Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak said.

"He stole almost $300,000, and he's got nothing to show for it," Michalak said.

Horan was sentenced to 54 months by Judge Robert Kleeman. The judge ordered Horan to make restitution of $25,000 to his former employer to cover its deductible on an insurance policy. Horan owes the remaining amount — $266,000 — to the insurer that reimbursed Horan's company, prosecutors said.

Horan's thefts were discovered when the company comptroller discovered a check issued to Horan that was not drawn on the payroll account. The company conducted an internal audit, discovered the missing money and contacted police.